excelsior

I'm doing this for fun (although in order to get the chocolate I have to tell some of my sources I'm a business). I make them for my (5) kids teachers at school and friends at church. In rural western NY (yes... not all of NY is a city) most people have never had fine chocolates and they are raved about. Elyse... the caramels that I don't put nuts in stay like you expect caramel to be... so I don't think it is sugar in the making process... also Macadamia nuts turn quicker and are much more crumblier than are the pecans but both turn.

Western NY Ginger Gold - cut it, and let it set on the counter and it will not discolor... superior to Cortland in this regard (and I love Cortlands)... Sansa absolutely the best eating apple... try these babies if you can find them... Honeycrisp the most amazingly crisp & juicy apple ever... the juice will actually dribble out of your mouth... leave it on the shelf for two weeks and it will be just as crisp... a very amazing apple... good luck finding these bad boys... (for you Macoun lovers, Macoun was one of the parents)... If you know where they hail from, the flavor is better in colder growing areas (sorry but Washington is too warm a climate)... Fortune - Supurb baking apple... one of the parents was Northern Spy (I think); Crispin is also good for baking (and eating)... Cameo - all the good characteristics of a Rome only this apple actually taste good... draw back... it isn't "pretty," you need to eat this one with your mouth and not your eyes... Red Delicious... good for looking at... could be substituted if a recipe call for cardboard ... I've found some people who like the older varieties remember eating them in a more innocent period in their life and that may be part (emphasis on "part" so please don't get hostile towards me) of the reason for their preference.

3 cups corn syrup 14 oz. condensed cream 1/2 cup milk 2 cups cream 1.5 cups butter 5 cups sugar it takes about two hours of stirring to keep this from burning and putting flecks of brown throughout the mass... usually pull it off at 239 degrees & throw in 2 t vanilla and pour it out... (Maybe they cristalize cause I can't spell)

I coat nuts (Macadamia & Pecans) in caramel and then cover them in chocolate, after about a week, the caramel begins to crystalized and has more of a fudge consistence... a few days after that they are actually crumbly whats going on? Are my ingredients in the wrong proportions? My caramels left without nuts stay soft... like forever.

When I make mazetta I put in a sniff of vanilla. One time after making it I thought it had an off flavor. I was perplexed. After complaining about the "wasted time" and that I'd have to "make it again" my wife confessed that she "refilled" the vanilla bottle with "immitation vanilla." Well, I remade it with real vanilla and it was delicious! It may be that if something goes in the oven with scads of other ingredients I might not be able to tell the diff. But with plain old mazetta, I thought immitation tasted nasty when I didn't even know I used the immitation...that's a pretty blind test n'est pas? suffer the politics.... I thought this was about pastry & baking

I find this too incredible to be true... pepper, chili, wasabi, in truffles? What a sheltered life I've led. Wow am I gonna have fun this Christmas!

I successfully served apple dumplings once, hot out of the oven. I too am curious if anyone has a secret about preventing the dough from softening up. You might want to try Cameo apples if they are available... they don't look pretty but they are tremendous eating and will bake better than will a Rome.

I need to be educated on white chocolates; whose should I buy and where on line can I get some without mortgaging my first born... I've used white chocolate as a base for coffee, lemon, and raspberry truffles and have use Callebaut & Nestles in the past... are any others worth investigation Or is there and archive that I can find a discussion on this? Has anyone ever used http://www.chocolatesource.com/ ? for their chocolates?